“Odisha grapples with communal violence brought on by Demographic Change”, Swarajyamag, June 19, 2024:

“Balasore, a small coastal city in northern Odisha, has become the latest communal hotspot in the state. Recent communal riots, triggered by an attack on Hindus and policemen by radical Muslim mobs on 17 June, have left many properties destroyed and a few people grievously injured.  Trouble broke out in the afternoon. Hindus suspected that a couple of cows had been slaughtered by a section of the city’s Muslim population in the Mallikashpur area, which is famous for the mausoleum of a Sufi pir.

It was Eid-Ul-Adha, the day when animals are sacrificed by Muslims.  As news of the alleged slaughter spread, a large crowd of Hindus gathered and tried to collect water from the drains that, they asserted, had turned red with the blood of the slaughtered cows.  A large posse of policemen also reached the area and collected water from the drains for testing. Protesting Hindus said they also found the horns and hoofs of the cows in the drains. They blocked the Balasore-Chandipur highway in protest. 

Even as the police tried to persuade the protestors to lift the blockade, a group of radical Muslims attacked the protesting Hindus with stones, bottles filled with acid, iron rods, and swords.  Though the police quickly brought the situation under control, trouble broke out again that evening and the next morning, with Muslims attacking Hindu properties in Golapokhari, Motiganj, and some other areas of the city of about 2.1 lakh people.  Hindus also retaliated in some places, and the riots would have spiralled out of control had the administration of the district, which borders Bengal to its north, not clamped a curfew on 18 June afternoon……”

Read the full article at Swarajyamag.com